MICHIGAN: Gov. Rick Synder Opposes Marriage Of Terminally Ill Gay Man

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced in a legal brief filed late last week he opposes state recognition of the marriage of gay man in the Wolverine State who’s terminally ill. In a five-page brief dated April 16 and submitted to the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Michigan, Snyder argues Michigan shouldn’t be required to recognize the marriage of Bruce Morgan, an East Grand Rapids, Mich., resident who’s suffering from brain cancer and married his partner, Brian Merucci in New York in 2013. A federal court had struck down Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage in March 2014, but the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision, upholding the state’s prohibition on gay nuptials. That case is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.